Souliotes
Σουλιώτες | |
|---|---|
 A Souliot in Corfu Nikolos Pervolis by French painter Louis Dupré (1827). | |
| Languages | |
| Spoken Languages: Tosk Albanian, Greek; Written Language: Greek[1] |
The Souliotes (Greek: Σουλιώτες) are the bilingual Greek people of a village confederation called Souli (Greek: Σούλι).[2][3] They lived in the mountains of Epirus in northwestern Greece.[3] Souliotes fought in the Greek revolution of 1821 against the Ottoman Empire and its allies.[4]
Name[change | change source]
The origins of the name Souli are unclear.[5]
Languages[change | change source]
Souliotes spoke Greek and a southern dialect of Albanian called Tosk.[1] They only used Greek in their writings.[1]
History[change | change source]
Ottoman oppression forced Greek herders in Epirus to flee to the mountains during the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century.[6] There, they built a confederation of villages called the Tetrachori (Greek: Τετραχώρι, "Four Villages") also known as Souli.[7] The Souliotes resisted Ottoman rule during the 18th century.[8] They later participated in the Orlov Revolt, a failed Greek anti-Ottoman uprising that happened in the 1770s.[8]
When the Souliotes were betrayed to the Ottomans in 1803, some abandoned Souli while others killed themselves.[9] Among those who killed themselves were the women of Souli who threw themselves and their children off a cliff called Zaloggo in an event called the Dance of Zaloggo (Greek: Χορός του Ζαλόγγου).[9][10] During the Greek revolution of 1821, the Souliotes defeated the Ottomans at the battle of the Five Wells in September of 1821.[11]
Gallery[change | change source]
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Flag of Greek leader Markos Botsaris raised in Souli in October 1820. The flag shows Saint George and in Greek says: "Freedom", "Fatherland", "Religion". -
Two studies of Souliote costumes by Eugène Delacroix (1822). -
Souli, view of the village and the castle of Kiaffa by Dominique Papety (1846).
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References[change | change source]
Citations[change | change source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Protopsaltē 1983, pp. 15–18.
- ↑ Karastathis 2014, Chapter V, Section 12: "Δίγλωσσοι οἱ Σουλιῶτες, ἀλλὰ χωρὶς καμιὰ συγγένεια μὲ τὰ ἀλβανικὰ φύλα".
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Protopsaltē 1983, pp. 5–8.
- ↑ Protopsaltē 1983, pp. 13–14.
- ↑ Pappas 1991, p. 24.
- ↑ Protopsaltē 1983, p. 5–6, 23.
- ↑ Protopsaltē 1983, pp. 5–6.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Protopsaltē 1983, pp. 26–27.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Protopsaltē 1983, pp. 10–11.
- ↑ Royal Society of Canada 1943, p. 100; International Folk Music Council 1954, p. 39; Papaspyrou-Karadēmētriou, Lada-Minōtou & Ethniko Historiko Mouseio (Greece) 1994, p. 47; Pritchett 1996, p. 103.
- ↑ Protopsaltē 1983, p. 13.
Sources[change | change source]
- International Folk Music Council (1954). Journal of the International Folk Music Council, Volumes 6-10. Cambridge: Published for the International Folk Music Council by W. Heffer & Sons.
- Karastathis, Kostas V. (2014). Έλληνες απο το Αρβανόν [Greeks from Arvanon] (in Greek). Athens: Athos. ISBN 9789604951420.
- Papaspyrou-Karadēmētriou, Euthymia; Lada-Minōtou, Maria; Ethniko Historiko Mouseio (Greece) (1994). The National Historical Museum. Athens, Greece: Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece. ISBN 960-85573-0-5.
- Pappas, Nicholas (1991). Greeks in Russian Military Service in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries. Thessaloniki: Institute for Balkan Studies.
- Pritchett, William Kendrick (1996). Greek Archives, Cults, and Topography. Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben. ISBN 90-5063-147-9.
- Protopsaltē, E. G. (1983). ΣΟΥΛΙ - ΣΟΥΛΙΩΤΑΙ [SOULI - SOULIOTES] (in Greek). Athens: Library of the Epirotic Company of Athens.
- Royal Society of Canada (1943). Mémoires de la Société Royale du Canada. Ottawa: Royal Society of Canada.